1. Field
The subject matter presented herein relates generally to communications networks, and more particularly, to methods for locating nearby network nodes, disseminating timing information for node synchronization and advertising routing information in networks.
2. Description of Related Art
The term beaconing refers to the periodic transmission of “broadcast” frames on a pre-determined channel sequence. Broadcast in this sense means that these frames are sent to the broadcast destination address and not to a specific destination MAC address. These beacon frames may be used to convey timing and routing information and also serve as a form of “broadcast” in a wireless mesh network. Any node that knows the beacon channel sequence and timing may listen to the beacon transmission from a transmitting node. Known ad hoc wireless networks may employ “beacons” as a way in which network nodes may perform neighbor discovery (i.e., locate other nearby nodes) and advertise routing information. A beacon is a transmission that may be generated by one node and received by some or all of the nodes within a transmission range. All or fewer than all of the nodes in a network may be capable of beaconing.